BHP Billiton said Tuesday that it plans to make further spending cuts to its U.S. onshore oil and gas development, pushing the Australia industrial giant’s current U.S. shale play budget down nearly 60% from $3.7 billion to $1.5 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.

Of that operating budget, the Sydney, Australia-based mining and industrial conglomerate plans to spend only $200 million in the Arkansas shale play to maintain ongoing production at 45 natural gas wells that the company has already drilled and completed.

Top Lockheed Martin executives said they expect to hear a decision in August or September on two high stakes Pentagon contracts that will play a large role in the U.S. military’s future ground and air combat effectiveness, including the $30 billion Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) project that could land in Camden’s Highland Industrial Park.

The Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board on Monday issued a 67-page “Request for Proposals” (RFP) seeking bids from local banks to finance the first phase a $30 million planned multi-phase downtown development to boost the city’s much-talked about startup and tech community.

Lockheed Martin will debut its first-ever live stream launch of the future USS Little Rock on Friday at the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin.

The warship, named after the Arkansas capital city, is the latest in the line of the nation’s new fast and mobile small surface Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that is intended for stealth combat operations close to the shore.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its updated state-by-state report for its “Made in Rural America” initiative, highlighting the fact that the export of farm and ranch products contributed $4 billion to the Arkansas economy in the past year.

The Arkansas Public Service Commission on Wednesday grant limited status to the Arkansas Sierra Club’s request to intervene in Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s $167 million rate case, saying the environmental group had established “specific interests” to participate in the regulatory docket.

A Pentagon official confirmed that a decision on the $30 billion award for Joint Light Tactical Vehicle project remains on schedule for an award in the fiscal fourth quarter, which for the U.S. military concludes at the end of September, Talk Business & Politics has learned.

Arkansas severance tax collections fell more than 50% in May from year ago levels as the state’s rig count plummeted to single digits and drilling crews are leaving the state for other richer wet shale plays across the U.S., according to state severance tax and employment data and industry reports.

That has left state tax revenue for natural gas production at just over $4 million in May, down 54.5% from $8.8 million a year ago, according to monthly tax data compiled by the Revenue Division of the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration.